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NBA Power Rankings: Reaction To New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets ESPN Rankings

By Kenneth Teape

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Our reaction to the NBA Power Rankings at ESPN and where the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets are ranked

Each week over at ESPN, they release their NBA Power Rankings that are written by Marc Stein. Here at Empire Writes Back, we will have our weekly reaction to where the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets are ranked by Stein and a little feedback on the rankings as a whole.

For the Knicks, it was a tough week. They were all the way up to 15 last week on the back of a four-game winning streak. Now, they are riding a four-game losing streak and have dropped in the rankings to 18. That is a fair spot to be, as the Knicks had an extremely rough week.

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They were blown out by the Miami Heat twice, losing by 17 on Monday and then 19 in the rematch on Friday. Sandwiched in between was a loss to the Orlando Magic by nine points, which ended the Knicks four-game road trip. The Knicks went 2-2 on that road trip, losing the last two after winning the first two over the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets in a back-to-back to start the trip.

Those same Rockets are who the Knicks lost to end to to end their 0-4 week on Sunday. It was an excrutating loss, as the Knicks held a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter but were unable to hold on. Carmelo Anthony did not dress for the game, as he was too sick to play in the game, which makes it that much more difficult of a loss to swallow; when you are that close to picking up a win without your best player, it is imperative to close the game.

The Knicks will now look to avoid the most embarrassing feat of their season Wednesday when they host the winless Philadelphia 76ers. They will follow that up with their first game against the Nets this season, and their third meeting, second on the road, against the Milwaukee Bucks.

While the Knicks dropped in the rankings, the Nets actually moved up. The Nets, who have been near the bottom most of the season and were ranked 28th last week, moved up to 26 this week. They had a tough road trip, visiting the Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers, losing both games. But, they played the Cavaliers tough, only losing by two. They followed that up with a victory over the Detroit Pistons Sunday to finish off the week 1-2.

The Nets moved up as much in part because of what other teams did than what they accomplished. Both the Bucks and Denver Nuggets, the teams the Nets jumped, were on losing streaks heading into this week. The Bucks were riding a three-game losing streak, dropping six of seven, while the Nuggets were riding a six-game losing streak.

Next: Knicks Top 5 Point Guards In Franchise History

It will be another tough week for the Nets, who will have a visit from the Phoenix Suns before traveling to take on the Knicks. They will end their week against the currently undeafeated Golden State Warriors, which is the start to a six-game homestand at Barclays Center.

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